Chapter 2A Life of Dignity

That night, I was homeless.

With only a few hundred dollars in my pocket, I found a seedy motel in a run-down part of the city. Fifty bucks a night.

Lying on the yellowed sheets, I looked at my reflection in the cracked mirror—hollow cheeks, a face etched with a weariness far beyond my years. I was thirty, but I looked like an old woman. The former beauty of the university’s finance department, now just a crippled ex-con.

I gave a bitter laugh and pulled the thin blanket over my head.

The next morning, the diner owner called.

“Ava, honey… you don’t need to come in tomorrow.”

“Why?” I shot up in bed.

The owner sighed.

“Someone put the word out. As long as you’re working on this street, none of us will pass our next fire inspection.”

“Don’t make this hard for me, kid. I’ve got a family to feed.”

He hung up.

I gripped the phone, my knuckles white.

Nicholas.

No one else had that kind of power, and no one else was that petty.

I didn’t go begging to him. Instead, I spent the entire day at employment agencies and job fairs. The result was exactly what I expected. The moment they ran my ID, the friendly smiles would vanish.

“Sorry, we don’t hire people with a criminal record.”

“Kim Industries has made it very clear. Please don’t put us in a difficult position.”

By sunset, I was sitting on a park bench, gnawing on the last half of a stale bread roll.

A red Ferrari pulled up in front of me.

The window rolled down, revealing Chloe’s face, hidden behind oversized sunglasses.

She looked at me, a sarcastic smirk on her lips.

“Hungry?”

“Pride doesn’t fill your stomach, does it?”

“Oh, Ava. Just be a good little dog for me, and I can make sure you get a meal. Otherwise…”

I stared at her, my stomach twisting into a knot. Not from hunger. From rage.

But I needed money. I needed to survive.

“Fine.”

Chloe smiled.

“See? That wasn’t so hard. You were born to be on a leash.”

She took me to a charity gala.

No gown, no time to clean up. I stood among the city’s elite in my cheap, dusty coat, a ghost at the feast.

Nicholas was there, laughing and talking with a group of investors.

Chloe led me to stand behind them.

“Well, well, if it isn’t the former finance department flower.”

“I heard she took the fall for her ex-boyfriend and did three years?”

“Still trailing after Mr. Kim, I see. Such a loyal pet.”

The air was thick with whispers and mocking laughter.

I looked at Nicholas.

He knew the whole truth.

I waited, hoping he would say something, anything, to stop them.

He didn’t.

He was too busy schmoozing with those investors over a multi-million dollar real estate deal. He just shot me a look, a silent command to endure it.

One of the men, drunk, staggered over and wrapped an arm around my waist, his hand roaming freely.

“Nicky, is this your new little bitch? She’s a bit old, but not bad to look at. Got a certain… flavor.”

“How about you let me have a taste tonight? I’ll make it worth your while.”

The whole room erupted in laughter.

Nicholas took a sip of his wine, his voice casual.

“If you like her, Mr. Zhang, you can have her kneel and lick your shoes.”

Looking at the man who had once worshipped the ground I walked on, I felt nothing but a bone-deep chill.

I turned, took the glass of red wine from Mr. Zhang’s hand, and smiled.

“Mr. Zhang, is this wine any good?”

He blinked, confused.

“What?”

SPLASH!

A full glass of red wine drenched his greasy, leering face.

The room fell silent.

Mr. Zhang yelped, stumbling back and clutching his eyes.

CRACK!

A sharp, stinging slap landed on my cheek.

Nicholas’s chest was heaving with fury.

“Ava! Are you insane?!”

“Do you have any idea how much that deal was worth?!”

I tasted blood in my mouth.

That slap shattered a decade of devotion, a final, brutal awakening.

I wiped a smear of blood from the corner of my mouth and looked at the apoplectic Nicholas, my smile more painful than any tears.

“Well, Mr. Kim. It’s a good thing that deal is dead.”